Adjective agreement after "de"

Drew B.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Adjective agreement after "de"

Can someone please explain the logic behind the difference in adjective agreement w/ nouns after "de" in these two sentences, which both are found in the exercise: 

1) "les distances de sécurité"

2) "quelques minutes de gagnées"

Why is "securité" not in agreement w/ "les distances," while "gagnées" is in agreement w/ "quelques minutes?"

Asked 5 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Drew,

As Chris says the first example is just an example of the preposition 'de' linking two related nouns meaning, safety distances .

Other examples would be -

'maison d'hôte', 'palais de justice', 'arrêt d'autobus', etc.

The second example, however, is more interesting as the 'de' there is called 'une préposition vide' , meaning an idiomatic preposition as it is not really required as the link between the two words is non existent as in,

rien de nouveau = nothing new

Hope this helps!

 

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Drew,

in the first sentence, sécurité is a noun: distance of security.

S. B.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

So, then why is it "quelque chose de nouveau" and not "quelque chose de nouvelle"?

CécileNative French expert teacher in Kwiziq

Hi Sean,

The word 'quelque chose' , or 'rien' for that matter, is neutral so a masculine adjective is used afterwards.

Here is the Académie Française explanation -

http://www.academie-francaise.fr/quelque-chose-de-speciale

 

Adjective agreement after "de"

Can someone please explain the logic behind the difference in adjective agreement w/ nouns after "de" in these two sentences, which both are found in the exercise: 

1) "les distances de sécurité"

2) "quelques minutes de gagnées"

Why is "securité" not in agreement w/ "les distances," while "gagnées" is in agreement w/ "quelques minutes?"

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Thinking...